Saudi Arabia reports 1 more death from new virus

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia says one more person has died from a new respiratory virus related to SARS, bringing to 55 the number of deaths in the kingdom at the center of the outbreak.

The Health Ministry said Sunday that the 37-year-old man died in Riyadh. He was among 130 people who have been infected with the virus in Saudi Arabia since September last year.

The new virus is related to SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, which killed some 800 people in a global outbreak in 2003. It belongs to a family of viruses that most often causes the common cold.

It emerged in the Middle East and can cause rapid kidney failure but doesn’t seem as infectious as SARS. It has been dubbed MERS, or Middle East respiratory syndrome.